In an historic move, the Anglican diocese of Rupert’s Land has appointed a Lutheran pastor – the Rev. Paul Johnson – as dean of the diocese and incumbent for St. John’s Cathedral in Winnipeg.

This is the first time that a Lutheran pastor has been appointed dean in an Anglican cathedral in Canada. A dean is the priest in charge of a cathedral (“mother church”) and occupies a senior position in a diocese.

The Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) have been in full communion since 2001, which means that their clergy may serve in one another’s churches.

This is a big diss on all the Anglican clergy in that area. AND, since this guy is not legitimately ordained by a bishop in the historic episcopate it throws the validity of any sacraments (apart from baptism) he might administer into question. Sort of like Mrs Tanner-Irish, the soi-disant TEC Bishop of Utah, who was invalidly baptized a Mormon but never re-baptized in a Christian denomination before her subsequent ordinations in TEC, rendering each and every sacramental act she purported to administer for the rest of her career definitively invalid.

Not really dead… I’m still alive and well in Canada. And I’ve just come from a lovely solemn mass in which a solid Anglo-Catholic was inducted as rector of a strong rural AC parish in the diocese of Fredericton. We’re diminished, but not eradicated. “Athanasius contra mundum” and all that.